The Fragile
by Carovinee
Summary: Ghost and his team prepare to execute the attack on Makarov's safehouse. Meanwhile, Alena, a young girl, is the sole survivor of the brutal takeover of the safehouse, her home. She is left in the forest, and in the middle of a deadly battle. A strong T


**A**/**N**: I started this a few months ago, but barely got a plot-summary written down before I gave up on it. This story is told through two perspectives; **Ghost** and **Алена** (Alena). Alena is a young girl who lived in the house that Makarov took over. This is my first attempt at switching POVs, so don't expect perfection. Or anything close to it. This is another "Loose Ends" story.

Another NIN song (and album!) as the title, although the song and the story aren't deeply related. It just seemed like an appropriate title.

The Fragile:

**Alena:**

My home has been tainted. Scarred. Stained. The blood of my family paints the walls once covered by photographs of a loving mother, father, and brother. Now, weapons replace the books, monsters replace the people, and the blood replaces the life. When the evil men came, my world flickered, and fell apart.

I thought I would be alright if I stayed out of the way. These killers could not harm a child, could they? With this in mind, I hid inside the fireplace. As the gun was shoved to my baby brother's temple, I lost my faith, and slipped away, running through one of the many exits. They did not see me. As the gunshot echoed behind me, I fled into the forest, the sharp ground cutting into my bare feet. I kept running, never looking back, until it became too dark to see. I collapsed on the ground, sleep overtaking my limbs.

**Ghost:**

I knew the dangers as I gathered the team. I was not the only one. The determination in Roach's voice did not eliminate the fear in his eyes. But he, along with the rest of the team, knew what had to be done. Pale, cold, and scared out of our minds, we began this hunt, with no intent of stopping. We walked through the forest, slowly approaching the estate, the lair of our enemy. Everything seemed to be alright, until the hiss of the mines broke the silence. Then everything froze, and the simple dangers became a distant memory.

**Alena:**

A piercing explosion rang through the trees, waking me. I jumped up, looking around in fear. The sound had come from my home, I knew it, and I knew I had to find out why. Ignoring common sense, I retraced last night's frantic path, and walked back towards the sounds, and the lair of the monsters.

As I drew nearer, the sound of gunfire became clearer and clearer. I slowed my walk, ducking into the trees. I knew that I had to stay hidden, or the gunmen would shoot me. Though I could hear weapons clearly, I could hear no voices, which worried me. All I could hear was the killing, the shouts of dying men calling out in the same voices that my family's killers had used the night before. Mingled in with their voices, I could hear something else; a different type of weapon, and voices speaking another language, different from the other men. Listening closely, I was able to identify it as English, thanks to my father's extensive book collection, and my basic knowledge of the English language. From what I could hear, they were here to kill the men that had taken my home. My heart leapt with elation, and I bounded back into the trees and up the hill; wanting to see the fight, but not actually be in it.

**Ghost:**

"Ambush!"

How in the hell did they know we were here? Our plan was simple; ambush, breach and clear, kill Makarov. None of us understood how the Ultranationalists were so prepared for our attack, when our intel showed that they had only set up camp yesterday.

Snipers, hidden in the trees and clothed in Ghillie suits, opened fire upon my team. I flinched slightly, jumping back and looking around me. I could see Roach, blinking rapidly and clutching his head as the shellshock ravaged the inside of his skull.

"Targets, left side, left side!" I shouted to the rest of the team. I watched as the three surviving men aimed for the snipers and expertly dispatching them. A sudden hiss and a stream of dark smoke caught my eye, followed by a sharp explosion. _Mortars._ Thinking fast, I fired into the smoke, shouting to the others to advance.

"Counterattack into the smoke. Push push push!" I yelled, mentally wincing at the desperation in my voice. I heard Roach fumbling behind me, his balance still affected by his proximity to the mine.

"Roach, you're going to get hit by a mortar! Come on, move it!" I called through the radio. Roach sprinted forward, snapping his ACR up and shooting down the snipers and red-camo clad Ultranationalists hiding among the tall trees. Through the explosions and the smoke, I was able to glimpse the occasional soldier falling at the hands of our snipers, Archer and Toad.

**Alena:**

I heard the gunshots fading, and the shouts quieting. The explosions that had rocked the ground moments before were calming, and I guessed that the fight was almost over. I stumbled out of the forest, smiling slightly as I caught sight of my home, partially veiled by the smoke and the trees. I made to walk down the path and into the clearing where the mines went off, but the sudden sound of voices stopped me. Diving back into the treeline, I peeked out, blinking in surprise. Two men, wearing strange camouflage suits and holding powerful scoped weapons, were resting on the edge of the hill, their guns aimed at my home. I listened carefully, relieved to hear that they were speaking English. Feeling a sudden surge of confidence, I slipped out of the trees and called out a greeting.

**Ghost:**

There was minimal resistance inside the house, as most of the Ultranationalists were stationed outside, trying to protect this base of operations, and possibly, Makarov. Once inside, we were clearly able to see tables covered in blueprints, weapons, and unarmed explosives. As soon as we were certain that the house was clear, I got on the radio with Captain Price and Shepherd.

"Shepherd, this is Ghost. No sign of Makarov. I repeat, no sign of Makarov." I paused, thinking of my captains, hunting Makarov in Afghanistan. "Captain Price, any luck in Afghanistan?"

"Plenty." he replied. "At least 50 hired guns here, but no sign of Makarov. Perhaps our intel was off?"

"Well, the quality of our intel is about to change." I said, almost excited about the state of the house. "This safehouse is a bloody gold mine."

"Copy that." said Shepherd. "Ghost, have your team collect everything you can for an operations playbook. Names, contacts, places, everything." he ordered. I looked over at Scarecrow, one of our few surviving members. He was taking pictures with a small pocket camera.

"Already on it. Makarov'll have nowhere to run." I replied.

"That's the idea. I'm bringing up the extraction force, ETA five minutes. Get that intel. Shepherd out." he said, closing the line.

"Roach, get on Makarov's compu..." I started, before Archer's voice sounded from my radio.

"Uh, Ghost, we have a problem here. Toad and I have a little girl here, says her name's Alena. She came out of the forest, I think she used to live in the cottage."

**Alena:**

I winced slightly as the two men jumped; obviously startled by my greeting. They turned, and I gasped as I saw the pistols clenched in their hands.

"Don't hurt me!" I whispered, slowly raising my hands. One of them nodded at me, before turning to his partner and discussing something in English. He turned around, and went back to sniping, while his partner knelt down next to me.

"Hello, little girl." he said in Russian, and I smiled, surprised.

"Hello, I'm Alena. Who are you? How can you speak Russian?" I asked. He pulled part of the camouflage suit away from his face, revealing pale skin, brown eyes, and thin white lips.

"Call me Toad." he said, smiling. "When I was training to become a sniper, I learned a little Russian, a course my friend Archer must have skipped. Do you speak English?" he asked.

"A little." I replied, in English. He grinned again, before standing up and returning to his sniper rifle. I heard the two men talking again. One of the men, Archer, began speaking into a radio hidden underneath his camouflage. I recognized my name and Toad's name, but nothing else that he said. After exchanging a few more words with Toad, he got back on the radio. Toad called me over, and I stood next to him.

"In a few minutes, there are going to be a lot of bad guys here." he said. "I want you to go back to hiding in the trees, and do not come out unless one of us call you out, understand?" I nodded, and gave him a quick hug, before running back into the trees.

**Ghost: **

Everybody froze, too surprised to secure the safehouse. For the first time, we thought of how Makarov must have acquired the cottage as his base. There must have been a family here at some point, and the rest of them were likely dead. But how had a little girl survived? Without thinking, I slipped past Roach, connecting the DSM while talking to Archer.

"Get her out of the way, and keep her out of sight until you leave. She'll go with you back to base." I ordered. I turned back to the others, who were still standing, staring at me.

"Come on, move your arses! The intel isn't going to protect itself!" I said, walking to the front of the house.

"Ozone, you're on rear security, I've got the front." I called, reloading my ACR.

"Task Force, this is Price." I jumped slightly as Captain Price's voice came suddenly through the radio. "More of Makarov's men just showed up at the boneyard... Soap, cover me. I'm gonna slot that guy over there and use his radio to listen to their comms. Ghost, we're going silent for a few minutes. Good luck up there in Russia. Price out." I nodded slightly, pulling my radio mouthpiece close to my mouth.

"Makarov's men are going to do whatever it takes to keep us from leaving with this intel. We need to protect the DSM until the transfer's done. Use the weapons caches and set up your claymores if you've got any left. Defensive positions, let's go!" I ordered. My men called their acknowledgement, readying their weapons. Roach busied himself with claymores, carefully placing them at each entrance. A sudden thud stopped him, and he levelled his weapon, the same fear from before shining in his eyes.

"What the hell was that?"

**Alena:**

I heard another explosion, but this one sounded different from the rest. It seemed muted, less violent, and further away than the others, but I did not know what it was.

"Toad, what was that?" I called, forgetting that I had to keep quiet.

"The bad guys got through our perimeter." he replied. "Now stay hidden. We have to kill the bad guys before they hurt our friends." I shrank back further into the trees, wincing as I heard more explosions, and the steady roar of gunshots and helicopters.

Minutes passed, and nothing changed. Archer and Toad kept in constant contact with their friends, whom I guessed where in or around my home. I didn't understand why it was taking them that long to kill all the bad guys; why didn't they just blow up the helicopters that were dropping the men in to attack them? At least they had Archer and Toad to cover them.

A shout behind me startled me, and I panicked, running out of the forest and to Toad.

"There's somebody in the forest!" I whispered. Toad dropped his rifle, and reached for a small pistol. Slowly, he slipped into the forest, but stopped as he caught sight of the source of the voice. Instantly, he came running out.

"Archer, we've got a seven-man squad on our six. They must have found us." Archer froze, thinking fast. He switched his mic volume up, carefully swinging his rifle onto his back.

**Ghost:**

"We're displacing. You're going to be without sniper support for thirty seconds. Out." came Archer's voice. I mentally winced; we were having enough of a struggle keeping the DSM intact with sniper support. Without them, even for thirty seconds, we knew this was going to get ugly.

The sharp blast of a flashbang rang through the ground floor, and I heard Roach shout in pain.

"Scarecrow! Cover me!" I ordered, carefully moving out of the office I had been crouched in. Roach was kneeling on the ground, blinking rapidly as he tried to clear his head and keep fighting. I reached down, pulled a frag off my Kevlar, pulled the pin, and lobbed the grenade into the group of Russians entering through the door. I heard the explosion, and several shouts of pain, then pulled Roach to his feet and went back into the office. I heard Ozone give a sharp cry, then frantically call over the radio.

"I'm hit!" he gasped, slumping against the front of the house.

"Ozone is down." said Archer, and I winced again, knowing that we could not retrieve the bodies of our fallen teammates.

"Roach, how much is left?" I shouted, quickly reloading my weapon as another squad converged on the house.

"Just a couple more minutes!" he cried. I heard a dull hiss and a muted explosion, and knew that Roach was using the grenade launched he had attached to his ACR. Another explosion sounded, followed by a harsh cry.

"Scarecrow, look out!" I heard Roach scream. A shout of pain filled the rooms, followed by a pained mutter.

"Scarecrow is down." murmured Roach.

**Alena:**

Toad picked me up, and we ran along the treeline, further up the hill. It took Archer a few seconds to find a good sniping position, and when he did, Toad set me down and the two men got back to work. Me, I stood, clearly able to see the state that my home was in now. From here, I could see burns, bulletholes, and a steady stream of gunfire pouring out of the house. Groups of red and green camouflaged men were trying to enter the house, and being shot back by the men inside. The radio chatter was being kept to a minimum, and aside from the occasional muttered comment and gunshot, the snipers were silent. Several minutes passed this way, before I was able to see two men exiting the house, firing into the crowd of enemies.

"Toad, Archer! They're leaving!" I called, smiling.

"We need to cover them." he replied, explaining. "They're escaping with some important information. We evac on a different helicopter. Understand?" he asked. I nodded, excited at the thought of getting away from all the shooting, even if it meant leaving behind my home.

**Ghost:**

Words could not express our relief as the DSM finished the transfer. As soon as it beeped in completion, I readied another grenade, throwing it in front of the main entrance as I ran to Roach.

"Roach, the transfer's complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM! Move!" I ordered, crouching on the staircase and picking off any Russians that made it into the house.

"I've got it!" shouted Roach.

"This is Shepherd. We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?" said Shepherd, his voice static through the radio.

"We're on our way to the LZ!" I replied. "Roach, let's go!"

Smiling slightly at me, he reached for a flashbang, chucking it out of and around the house. As soon as it exploded, we ran. Moving as fast as we could, we tore across the fields and through the forest, only shooting the men who got in our way. An explosion shook the ground beneath us, nearly bringing us both down.

"Shit!" screamed Roach. "Mortars!"

"They're bracketing our position with mortars, keep moving but watch your back!" Roach nodded, sprinting slightly ahead of me.

"Roach, I got you covered! Go! Go! Get to the LZ! Keep moving! We gotta get to the LZ! Roach, come on!" I shouted, babbling in desperation as we ran, flanked by fire and flying dirt. A sudden blast lands close by, sending Roach flying a few feet forward. His head snapped against the ground, and he went limp.

"Roach, no!" I yelled, diving over to his body. I fumbled for a pulse, almost smiling as I felt a weak heartbeat. Pushing an AK-47 into his arms, I dragged him along the ground, determined to reach the LZ. I reached into my vest and retrieved a red flare, lobbing it into the forests that we had just run through.

"I've got you, Roach, hang on! Thunder Two-One, I've popped red smoke in the treeline! Standby to engage on my mark!" I ordered, tightening my grip on Roach as I felt him regain consciousness. I heard the Little Bird pilot talking, but in this haze, I couldn't understand him.

"Thunder Two-One, cleared hot." I said, saying the only thing that made sense to me. Instantly, the chopper opened fire, eliminating the Russians that followed us through.

Once the LZ came into sight, I pulled Roach up, slinging his arm around my shoulder. I could feel him drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Get up, get up, we're almost there!" I said, forcing him to move with me as we limped to the waiting Pave Low. I saw Shepherd step off of the ramp, not even flinching as he saw the state that Roach was in.

"Do you have the DSM?" he asked.

"We've got it, sir!" I replied.

"Good." he muttered. "That's one less loose end..."

He pulled out a pistol, and in a flash, pressed it into Roach's ruined abdomen, and squeezed the trigger. Letting loose a sharp cry of pain, Roach tumbled to the ground.

**Alena:**

Something was wrong, and I knew it. As soon as we heard the Pave Low touching down at the other landing place, we started running again. Toad told me that our evac was on a smaller helicopter called a 'Little Bird', and that it was landing in the clearing below us. As we were running, we heard a single, sharp gunshot over the sounds of a scrambled battle. Archer stopped, and pulled Toad and I into the forest. Another gunshot sounded, this one louder than the first. Immediately, the two snipers started talking. I could hear the panic in their voices.

"What was that?" I whispered, scared. Toad looked at Archer, who nodded. He turned back to me.

"We aren't going to get onto the Little Bird." he said. "We're going to call a friend. His name is Nikolai, and he should be able to help us. We just have to try not to get caught."

**Ghost:**

I couldn't believe my eyes as Shepherd carelessly betrayed us. As the shot rang out, I panicked, stunned and shocked. I tried to level my ACR, but before I could squeeze the trigger and kill this betraying madman, a painful roar flooded my ears, followed by a piercing sharpness cutting through my shoulder. I fell to the ground and realized what had happened. The bastard shot Roach and I, and stole the intel off of Roach's mangled torso. I jammed my eyes shut, fighting back tears at the pain, the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. I had been betrayed, again.

Next thing I knew, my body was being lifted, swung, and thrown against the ground. I forced my eyes to open, and realized that I had been thrown into a pit, with Roach by my side. I felt a faint trickle of liquid pouring down my torso, mixing with my blood. Looking up, I saw a bright red gasoline can, and Shepherd standing by, puffing on a cigar.

_Fuck._

Bracing myself for the pain, I could only watch as the cigar hurtled toward us, instantly lighting the gasoline fumes cloaking Roach and I. I heard him give one last gasp of pain, before slumping weakly against the ground. The pain was building and building as our bloodied flesh was burned away. I slowly closed my eyes, feeling too tired to fight any more. The last thing I heard was the cry of a little girl, two angry voices, calling my name, and the hollow words of Captain Price; his warning of betrayal coming mere minutes too late.

**Alena:**

Archer and Toad stood before the two burning bodies, shouting their names. Archer dropped to his knees, forcefully batting away the last of the gasoline fire. A sudden gunshot cut through the air, and I screamed in panic, then pain, as a bullet pierced my side. Archer jumped up, pistol in hand, and shot at the surviving Russian who had done this to me. I collapsed, feeling blood gushing from my side. I felt lightheaded, dizzy, and weak. Toad was by my side instantly, applying pressure to my wound.

"It didn't go that deep, relax, you'll be okay." he murmured, brushing my tangled hair off my face. Archer passed him a little bag, and he retrieved gauze and a syringe from the bag.

"I'm just going to stop the bleeding and give you some painkiller, okay?" he asked. I nodded, wincing slightly as the needle pierced my skin. After a few long moments, the drugs took affect, and I didn't feel my side anymore. I didn't feel anything anymore.

"Toad, are your friends dead?" I whispered. He nodded solemnly, carefully wrapping the last of my injury.

"What were their names?" I asked. Coughing slightly, he looked back at the two bodies.

"Roach, and Ghost." he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. I nodded slowly, trying to pull myself up as I heard another helicopter.

"Stay still, or you'll start bleeding again!" hissed Toad, carefully picking me up as another Little Bird landed.

"It's Nikolai." said Archer, gathering one of the burnt bodies into his arms. A Russian-looking pilot stepped out, a pained look on his face as he saw the bodies. Toad passed me to him, and he gently placed me in the co-pilot's seat. Archer and Toad placed the bodies in the back, and sat next to them. The helicopter took off, and I turned to Nikolai.

"Where are we going?" I asked, in Russian. He smiled wide before answering.

"I'm taking you to my hangar, where I store my aircraft. Then, I'll be out rescuing the rest of the team. No doubt they have been attacked as well."

I nodded, staring out at the sky, and the forest below us. I knew that I was lucky, and that one day, I would be able to pay back the men who had helped me, and help them find a way to kill whoever was responsible for tearing apart their team.

**Another A**/**N**: Holy Shit, it's 3AM, and this is a huge story (for me, anyway).

Review, please?


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